We've brought you many conversations with people shaping the response and looked at the consequences for highly vulnerable communities, like refugees, asylum seekers, and people of color. But the fallout from this pandemic is only becoming more apparent as each day passes. That's why our host James Chau speaks to art historian Manfredi della Gherardesca, who provides a lens by which we can digest the world before, during, and after COVID-19. Like many people, he is also a first-hand participant in the complexities of the lockdown, choosing to leave his home in London for his home country of Italy, even though it is one of the worst-affected of all.
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Apr 09 , 2020 | COVID-19As the health crisis deepens in the United States, it has disproportionately affected people of color. Groups like Black Lives Matter warned that people of color with lower access to basic healthcare services could be hit harder as the crisis unfolds. To explore this issue, our host James Chau spoke with Lateefah Simon, a prolific civil rights advocate, community leader, and elected public official in the San Francisco Bay Area. James worked with Lateefah during the AIDS pandemic, and in this interview, they discuss the stakes for people of all colors, the future we face, and what chance we have in this global crisis. She says when we all unify, we unleash our collective power.
Apr 08 , 2020 | COVID-19Since Wuhan and its surrounding areas lifted its city-wide lockdown, 60 million people have been able to leave their homes freely and walk outside, many of them for the first time in 76 days. As the city slowly returns to normal, the timeline of events from the earliest days of the outbreak is beginning to emerge. It was in late December when an unknown pneumonia was detected in Wuhan— triggering an alert system that notified the World Health Organization. Days later, the genome sequence was published on an open platform, allowing international scientists to collaborate. This story explores the critical first days and weeks of what is now a global pandemic.
Apr 06 , 2020 | COVID-19Filippo Grandi brings enormous field experience in emergency operations to his role as UN High Commissioner for Refugees - and compassion and kindness, too. Today, there are 70.8 million forcibly removed people, whose challenges and those of their host communities are compounded by COVID-19, the biggest threat to humanity in almost a century. What future awaits these individuals, many of whom have no home or access to clean water - but are being told to stay indoors and wash their hands? And what hope do they have in this era of lockdowns and closed borders, when movement and escape are sometimes their only means of survival? In this special conversation, our host James Chau speaks with Mr. Grandi about the human condition that impacts us all.